LINCOLN- The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy sent postcards to more than 29,000 registered domestic well owners across Nebraska, inviting them to conduct a free test of their private well water and participate in a study of nitrate pollution in the state. According to the Department, widespread public participation is the key to ensuring that the study accurately encompasses private drinking wells across the state.

The free sample kits and lab analyses are offered to all Nebraskans with a private well, not just those who received a postcard. If a private well's results are above 10 parts per million of nitrate, owners are also eligible for up to $4,000 in rebates to obtain a reverse osmosis treatment system.

Nitrate pollution in groundwater has been a long-running concern in Nebraska, where decades of use of nitrogen fertilizers and manure runoff from livestock operations have increased levels in aquifers. According to several state medical researchers, the state has one of the highest rates of pediatric cancer in the nation, which nitrate-laden drinking water might've played a role in.

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